Monmouthshire’s A-Level students achieve excellent results

Today in Monmouthshire over four hundred students are celebrating an outstanding set of examination results enabling them to progress to the next steps in university, colleges and work places all over Britain.

Students at all four secondary schools have achieved excellent results with the county's pass rate of 98%.  In all Monmouthshire secondary schools, staff are confident that students will gain entry to their preferred higher education courses.

The results across all four schools show an increasing number of students choosing to study their post-16 qualifications at one of the county's four secondary schools; Caldicot School, Chepstow School, King Henry VIII and Monmouth Comprehensive School.

Across the county the percentage of students achieving the very highest grades was consistent with last year's results with 29% of papers graded A* or A.  This compares positively with the national performance of 26.3%.

There has been a further increase across Monmouthshire in the number of students achieving the Level 3 threshold (of two A levels grades A-E) to 98.3%, an increase of 1.0% from last year.

Caldicot School sustained its performance for the Level 3 threshold at 100% for the fourth year running.

Chepstow School saw 30% of its pupils achieve A*/A and an increase in the percentage of pupils achieving the level 3 threshold of 2.3 percentage points taking the school to 97.1%.

Abergavenny's King Henry VIII Comprehensive School saw improved performance at the highest levels with 15% of student achieving three A*/A grades and a significant increase in the number of students achieving three A* - C grades to nearly 60%.

Monmouth Comprehensive students achieved record results with 25% of students achieving three A*/A grades and 34% achieving A*/A grades.

County Councillor Richard John, the council's cabinet member with responsibility for education commented: "A-level results day is so important for our students and young people.  Today I am delighted to see how well our students across all of our schools have done – these fantastic results are a real indicator of how hard the students and teachers have worked over the last two years.  At this time my focus is that the young people get the qualifications they need to progress to the next stage of their adult lives, wherever that may be.

"I think it is also important that we recognise the support that our students receive from their parents and carers.  They should look forward with great confidence as they start the next stages of their lives, be that in education or work."

Will McLean, Chief Officer for Children and Young People added: "In a period of change and reform at both school and higher education institutions I am very pleased at what our schools have achieved.  Our young people, their families and school staff who have supported and encouraged them for the last two years can be proud of what they have achieved. Monmouthshire's results compare favourably with national outcomes and I know that our schools will be very pleased with this.  For all of our students they have been given a tremendous foundation to go into their futures confident in what they know and confident in their abilities."